In my latest DeLorean Philosophy podcast I explore the ramifications (or some of them at least) of the dramatic drop in adherence to Christianity in England and Wales. Just as with the latest Australian census data, the equivalent in the UK shows a big decline in adherence, (the low-bar default position), while there’s been a […]
Author: stephenmcalpine
Just Breathe, Just Breathe, Just Breathe
The Nick Cave concert that Jill and I went to last night was a spiritual experience. And I use that term advisedly. I also use it in light of the fact that the review of the concert by our local newspaper also made the same connection. Have a look at the header above. The term […]
Sexual Strangling: It’s The New Vanilla
It was this line that got me. In a shocking article in The Sydney Morning Herald today, sexual safety educator, Maree Crabbe made this statement: “Young people speak about ‘choking’, external pressure to the throat, being so incredibly mainstream that its almost vanilla now, that it’s considered to be a normal part of a sexual […]
Australians All Let Us Rejoice, For We are Safe and Free
In one of the greater insights into the national Australian psyche, famed expat cultural commentator, Clive James, made this statement about his fellow Aussies: “The problem with Australians is not that so many of them are descended from convicts, but that so many of them are descended from prison officers.” In other words, as much […]
Serving The Thirsty: The Old Church of the Golden Nectar
We went to our newly renovated local pub/hotel last night after work for a meal and a drink, and to check out what is a stunning renovation of an almost 100 year old building. It’s the Bassendean Hotel, about ten minutes walk from our house. It used to be fairly downtrodden and tired, but after […]
Crisis Climate: DeLorean Philosophy Latest Podcast
Hey if you want to have a listen to my latest podcast, here’s the link on Apple podcasts
Video Discipleship In a Digital Age
Tim Keller once posited a question along these lines: Why is it that so many young church-going people lose their faith within a term or so of going to college? They attend church growing up, youth group, parachurch camps etc. They do the whole Christian young person thing. But one semester into university, they come […]
The Cheap Thrill of Heterodoxy
One of the key features in the church is that you get to see the battle between orthodoxy and heterodoxy (the move away from orthodoxy) played out in real time. In every generation. Sure there are always different issues coming to the fore, depending often on what the cultural pressure is doing. Heterodox views always […]
Andrew Thorburn is Lawyering Up: I Think That’s the Right Move
Essendon’s CEO-for-a-day Andrew Thorburn has engaged with lawyers and is reserving the right to sue the Essendon Football Club. Perhaps you’re wondering why the bloke who wrote “Being the Bad Guys” thinks we should be pushing back. Aren’t we supposed to be like Jesus? Isn’t our stance towards the hardening secular world not to assert […]
Strange Rites, Stranger Things and Even Stranger Bedfellows
If you haven’t read Tara Isabella Burton’s book Strange Rites: New Religions for a Godless World, you must. It’s an exceptional socio-cultural exploration of the shift in the West away from institutional religion to what she terms (and it’s a self-explanatory great term), intuitional religion. Yes that’s right. Just as with my term “A Sexular […]
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